AUSTIN (KXAN) – Austin Police Human Trafficking Unit detectives have secured one of their most significant bonds yet in connection with Thursday’s arrest of a 22-year-old man on a child sex trafficking charge. Maurice Allen Scott is being held in the Travis County jail on $500,000 bond, jail records show.
Police picked up Scott overnight Friday after he dropped off a 14-year-old girl at an Austin motel after she agreed to have sex with an undercover officer for $150, the affidavit contends. “The undercover officer responded to an
online advertisement in the escort section of an online website, commonly used to solicit for prostitution services,” the document filed Nov. 1 reads.
Detectives allege the girl told them Scott’s street name is “Hustler” and he ‘abducted’ her and took naked photos of her on his phone. “The 14-year-old victim stated that Scott would make the appointments and would be in control of the phone at all times…The victim stated she would have to text Scott ‘start’ when she began having sex and ‘finish’ when she was ready to be picked up,” the affidavit alleges. The document also contends Scott would take the money to pay for hotels and gas for his gold-colored Toyota SUV.
As KXAN reported Oct. 30,
in a special In-Depth report, domestic sex trafficking of minors is a growing problem in Central Texas.
Police say the girl in this latest case attends a local high school. Recently-enacted laws allow prosecutors to pursue first degree felony charges against someone alleged to have trafficked a person under the age of 18. Trafficking is defined as: “transport, entice, recruit, harbor, provide or otherwise obtain another person my means,” according to the document.
Scott has a prior plea deal settlement in 2011 for violating a protective order. Local crime analysis site
Krimelabb.com reports before the latest arrest,
Scott had been taken into custody eight times. Several of the arrests were for driving with a suspended license.
Recently, another Austin man, 36-year-old
Chris Dancer, agreed to a plea deal of 15 years in prison for his role in a similar child sex trafficking operation.